[darknessproz]

Good to know, can't wait to buy mine.

 

[dw1narso]

 
Quote:

Today, I got some "premium" RCA cables and USB 2.0 A Male to B Male from monoprice, http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021803&p_id=5346&seq=1&format=2 and http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030301&p_id=5438&seq=1&format=2 . The annoying random noises were gone after replacing the stock cables with these. Now all I hear is a a hissing sound at max volume with music muted. Those reading might say, "Oh you still have a hiss. Big deal." It's quite a big deal to me. The jittery sound on top of the hiss just annoyed me ad infinitum. Now I'm left with the hiss. I'm satisfied.
 
Now, to get rid of the hiss. I'll see if the ground loop isolator would make any difference.  

Hi Endless,
 
which of the cable (RCA or the USB) that you found to remove the "random noise"?
 
from what I read so far... the digital section is always powered from USB, while the amp section can be powered by the USB or the external PS.
 
I also notice from some bigger picture of its internal that Audinst has a DC-DC step-up circuit... this kind of switching circuit sometimes tend to induce noise to the rest of the circuit... (though the chip that is used by Audinst is oscillate at 100KHz, which should be inaudible)

 

[Endless]

It was the RCA Cable that removed the random noise. So, yup. The Audinst's stock RCA cables are a no-no.  

 

[dw1narso]

I see, thanks....

 

[kite7]

Any impressions of the MX1 built-in amp vs Asgard?

 

[Yoga Flame]

My take from it is that the Asgard is superior to the MX1's built-in amp.
 
MX-1 DAC + MX-1 amp = good
MX-1 DAC + Asgard amp = awesome
 
I reckon the MX-1 is supposed to be paired with a dedicated amp, and the built-in one is just icing on the cake.

 

[kite7]

I would suspect the Asgard being better but the OP's comment here made me curious whether the differences are more clear now.
 

 
Quote:

Honestly, the headphone amp of the MX1 and of the Asgard was surprisingly similar. I don't know if i'm going deaf or not, but I could not hear any significant difference between the two. However, together, they somehow complemented each other and a more refined Asgard sound came out. That's the best I can do to explain it.

 

[Endless]

I would like to correct my statement.
 
To an untrained ear, they would sound similar, but after listening to my Schiit Asgard more and more, I realized that there is a subtle difference between the Audinst's built in amp and the Asgard. The Asgard felt more CLEAR and had a WIDER sound stage. The Audinst's sound stage, in terms of geometry, felt like an 120 degree angle on both sides of the ear. The Schiit Asgard felt like a 150 - 160 degree angle on both sides of the ear. It's hard to put it in terms of tangible numbers, but there is a difference.
 
You're paying an extra 200 dollars for clarity and a 20 - 30 angle increase of sound stage (take it with a grain of salt). Was it worth it to me? Yes, but my wallet vehemently disagrees.

 

[spidey]

Just curious, is the MX1 still available?
 
Cant seem to find it on ebay listing.
 
Edit: Disregard, just realize it says 'sold out' on their web site.

 

[kite7]

It will be available again on ebay on Sept 17th but will not ship until 24th due to holidays in korea

 

[mosshorn]

I'm planning on picking one of these up for my Bottlehead Crack. Love the size, and also nice to have the amp for cans that don't play well with the Crack.

 

[Marleybob217]

Good review! 
 
I'm quite surprised at how well the HUD-MX1 could drive the HD650s. You would expect quite the difference between the asgard and the HUD-MX1.
 
Now I'm really curious how well the HUD-MX1 will drive the HE-400.

 

[Marleybob217]

Quote:

Ehhh.. I noticed that yesterday. I tried putting some post it notes on the four corners to elevate it so that air can ventilate through the DAC  and amp.  
 
 
Yes, when the Audinst is in standalone DAC mode, the volume amp does have an effect on the output. Hmm, a switch? I'll research online for some more info on that. I've tried putting the Asgard and the Audinst on separate ends of the table so that they wouldn't touch, and I still hear it. One thing I found is that if I scroll up and down excessively or if I do anything memory or cpu consuming on my computer (Starcraft II), the "electrical noises" (going to stop using the word jittery), gets way worse. I think that it may be a problem with my computer's usb output. 

 
 
Quote:

Actually, a Head-Fier recently noted that a  ground loop isolator removed this problem for him/her. Does anybody else have experience using this isolator? 

 
Sounds like you have a case of latency.
Caused by drivers using your usb memory inefficient (I don't know the technical terminology). 
The latency causes a crackling sound, and is quite noticably and very annoying. But the sound only occurs every 30-50 seconds or so.
 
You can download dpc latency checker, and it will show you when latency occurs http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml. So you can check whether it really is latency.
 
Also try a different usb port, I once had the problem where my usb 3.0 wasn't working properly and I was hearing bad static. Also don't plug it right next to a usb wifi adapter.

 

[Marleybob217]

Quote:

It was the RCA Cable that removed the random noise. So, yup. The Audinst's stock RCA cables are a no-no.  

Oh, you already found the problem. 
 
Good

 

[Marleybob217]

Quote:

My take from it is that the Asgard is superior to the MX1's built-in amp.
 
MX-1 DAC + MX-1 amp = good
MX-1 DAC + Asgard amp = awesome
 
I reckon the MX-1 is supposed to be paired with a dedicated amp, and the built-in one is just icing on the cake.

I'm not entirely agreeing with that statement.
I found that the built in amp of the hud-mx1 was far superior than the fiio e9's with the HE-400, and other headphones (nothing above 32 ohms). 
Considering the built in amp is better than the E9, which I bought for about 115 euros, you can't call that icing on the cake.